🔎 UNIDENTIFIED Fossilized horn or tusk?

bbheigle0605

Sr. Member
Feb 9, 2013
299
127
Good afternoon,

I found this along side a rock dike in the Mississippi River this afternoon. The river is at record lows which means fossil hunters are running to the rock dikes in search of fossils. This was my fist time going and I found this. I broke it of course which I’m sick about it! Took 45 mins to get it out between 2 very large rocks. Thank you in advance!

Beth
 

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callmez

Jr. Member
May 25, 2014
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East Tennessee
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To me the structure of the material looks like a type of bone, rather than horn or ivory. Pithy center and exterior with fairly coarse grain. No idea what sort of critter you could be dealing with though.
 

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Older The Better

Silver Member
Apr 24, 2017
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I thought tooth first then sloth maybe like mentioned but I think it is most likely the core of a Buffalo horn. Very cool what ever it is
 

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ANTIQUARIAN

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Apr 24, 2010
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Upper Canada 🇨🇦
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My first thought was a fossilized walrus tusk. :icon_scratch:

Here is an example of a fossilized juvenile walrus tusk that was found at the Aurora mine in North Carolina. The Aurora mine is the largest integrated phosphate mining and chemical plant in the world. This fragment exhibits an attractive glossy patina and polish from wear/use. This piece is solid and heavily mineralized; the tip is fully intact.

product_photo_thumbs.jpg
 

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Older The Better

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Apr 24, 2017
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south east kansas
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Walrus is interesting wasn’t even in the range of animals I was thinking, good idea to include pictures though here’s some of bison horn cores… really with what’s left I’m not sure there’s much of a way to distinguish… unless a tusk doesn’t have any spongey internal structure, I don’t know
45326F5D-6140-4274-9E28-906C05E82081.jpeg

39F147FB-BE18-44B6-B5FA-D9A74F18F958.jpeg
 

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